The arrival of summer means that the air conditioning system of your vehicle will soon be under severe stress. If you haven’t repaired the system for a while, now is the time. Although most newer cars can get out of trouble by charging A / C, older cars and trucks may require more attention.
If you think the air conditioner is not as cold as before, but it is still cold, you may need to charge the system. Although manufacturers have used a refrigerant called R-12 or Freon, researchers have found that this is the main cause of ozone depletion. Therefore, the use of Freon in vehicles produced after 1994 is illegal. Now, manufacturers use R-134a to keep items in the car cool.
Although you can technically replenish the refrigerant of the vehicle, if you are not satisfied with the maintenance of the vehicle, it is best to be carried out by a qualified professional. All refrigerants have a tendency to displace oxygen, which means that if you accidentally evacuate the system, these packings may actually expel air from the lungs. Not fun.
On the first step
After the car, the technician will measure the pressure in the system. If the pressure is very low, they will increase the pressure to make the reading meet the manufacturer’s specifications. Then, they will drive your car for a few minutes with a high A / C and use a special thermometer to measure the output of the system. If it is not within the necessary parameters, there may be a leak in the system.
Fixing leaks is trickier than you think. Your technician will attach your vehicle to a special refrigerant recovery system and expel any harmful gases from the car. At this time, the technician will check all your air conditioning hard wires to ensure that there are no obvious cracks. They may add tracer dyes to the system to help solve the problem. The bad news is that it is sometimes difficult to find leaks, and the tracer dye may not solve all problems (by Collin Flynn at coolbs fashion). The good news is that your expensive hard wires are usually made of aluminum and rarely fail. Instead, the culprit is probably one of the components of the system. The first is your compressor.
Components
Air-conditioning compressors are usually driven by the vehicle’s serpentine belt and pressurize the system’s refrigerant when rotating. In short, it is this pressure change that cools the air that enters the cabin. The air-conditioning compressor rotates at a dazzling speed, the more times you use the cold surface of the thermostat, the greater the possibility of eventual failure or leakage. One of the main differences between R-12 and R-134a is that the new refrigerant needs to add supplemental oil to the system in order for all functions to function properly. R-12 does not. If the compressor has insufficient oil, the internal seals may fail and you need a new unit. Unfortunately, compressors are not cheap .
The best way to prevent compressor failure is to maintain the air conditioning system once a year, including adding the correct lubrication to your unit. If it is indeed necessary to replace the compressor, most responsible stores recommend continuing and replacing many peripheral components at the same time. why? A simple answer is that working on an air conditioning system is as fun as putting your hand on the mixer. twice. Therefore, in order to avoid draining the refrigerant, disassembling the compressor, installing new equipment and injecting new cool things into the system, it is only to make you come back after a week and say it is still not cold enough, so it makes sense to replace the necessary components. It saves you from wasting time and money and ensures that they solve problems in the first place.
Another possible cause of leaking system is the condenser. The condenser is basically a large heat exchanger, usually located in the front of the engine compartment of the vehicle. It looks a bit like a small radiator, and because it is exposed to the oncoming air, it may also be hit by debris. If the condenser is hit by stones or other flying objects, it may be your problem.
